Torchwood: Captain Jack's childhood...

[fajrdrako]

I was thinking about what we do know and what we don't know about Captain Jack. He appears to be in his thirties and American, but we know that's largely an illusion - he's an immortal of unknown age, presumably from the 51st century - even that leaves room for fudging, since he might have gone to the 51st century from another time.

So do any Torchwood fans here have any theories as to his original background? We know from his comments to the other Jack in "Captain Jack Harkness" that he went to war when young - though we don't know exactly how young. Are there any other clues?

Would would you speculate? Did he choose to appear as an American just to cover the Captain Jack Harkness identity? What kind of a family do you think he came from? A nuclear family? Or something more futuristic and outre? Two parents, or more? Fewer? None? Siblings? Schooling? Was he born on a poverty-stricken post-holocaust world, or did he come from a comfortable middle-class background, or was he a scion of a wealthy ruling class?

Any ideas?

Cross-posted to torch_wood.

Comments

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Given that he's one of the "monsters"

I think the show has a nicely relativistic feel to it. Look at the Weevils in comparison to the men fighting them in "Combat". Sympathy is with the Weevils - not gentle creatures, but lost empathic beings from another world who are confused and endangered in our society. But there are many good people in Torchwood, too, and a mood of compassion towards humanity's flaws. Jack himself is a sort of ultimate hero. Sure, he gets called a monster, and is hated for his actions - but that's injustice and misunderstanding. He's also a scapegoat, blamed for harm when he is only a witness to it.

There are some very bad aliens, and some very bad humans, and some of each who are good. And many who are neither particularly good or bad. Look at Tosh's conversation with Gwen at the end of "Greeks Bearing Gifts" where Tosh says she can't take the high moral ground and Gwen says "neither can I".

I'm sure the Daleks are masters of intimidation. It strikes me as not at all surprising that they would torture someone. They might do it to scare their enemies, or because they had reasons to experiment with a human, or because it improves their morale to see an enemy suffer. It doesn't seem out of character or unlikely to me.

Especially since, in the framework of the recent Doctor Who stories about Daleks, there seems to be a certain amount of widening their scope.